Ceramics data enters a new phase

It's an anthology that is likely to be very popular with designers and manufacturers of ceramics and related materials worldwide. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) have compiled, into a single compact disk, nearly 20,000 phase-equilibria diagrams for more than 15,000 chemical systems. Each diagram is akin to a ceramics "road map" for a particular mixture of compounds--a graphical representation of how chemical composition and structure vary with changes in temperature, pressure or other conditions. Covered materials range from those that superconduct to those that vibrate, resonate or withstand inferno-like temperatures.

The collection contains all 20 volumes of critically evaluated phase diagrams that the ACerS-NIST collaboration has published since 1964. As important, the new CD-ROM features a variety of enhancements to improve search capabilities, ease of use and options for manipulating, presenting and analyzing data. Each phase diagram is accompanied by a brief scientist-written commentary that summarizes the source of the information, methods of data collection and key facets of the diagram.

Accurate, reliable phase diagrams reduce the potential for design and processing errors, and they may point the way to new types of materials with superior properties. The ACerS-NIST program also saves research time and money by sparing individual scientists and organizations from the necessity of gathering the data themselves, usually from disparate sources, and evaluating its reliability. A 1997 assessment of the program estimated that each $1 spent on data collection, evaluation and publication in this program produced $10 in benefits to the R&D community.

For details on ACerS-NIST Phase Equilibria Diagrams CD-ROM Database Version 3.0, see www.nist.gov/srd/nist31.htm or www.ceramics.org/phasecd.

---

---